Well, Christmas came and went so fast but we sure had a great time with family and friends. For Christmas we traveled to CA to stay a week with Morgan's parents and then another week with my parents. We had a wonderful time. But first here are some pictures of activities before our travels for the holidays.
Santa was at Walmart so the kids got their picture taken with him.
Here in Spanish Fork, just a few minutes from our home, we have what is called the Festival of Lights. You pay a fee per vehicle to drive through a park that has been decorated with tons of lights and such. It was a fun family outing.
Sam's preschool went on a field trip, first to the Post Office to drop off letters to Santa...
...then to PetSmart to see all kinds of animals...
..........
...and then to good ol' Krispy Kreme.
Elvis, the elf that visits us during the 12 days of Christmas leaving goodies in the kids shoes each night, brought Gingerbread House Making Kits on his first visit. The kids sure enjoyed decorating them...and licking their fingers and eating the candies.
We had a bunch of snow dumped on us. The kids and I enjoyed shoveling our driveway.
After 2 or 3 days of snow fall we had an accumulation of 8 inches of snow!
One evening the kiddos played out in the backyard. They were making snow angels.
Morgan and I hired our first real babysitter ever and were able to go out on a date to his Work Party. We went to Tucano's Brazilian Grill and took a walk over to the movie theatres and watched the new Star Wars Movie with his work folk.
Yay for a date night!!
Noel had a Pajama Party at school.
Samuel made a gingerbread house at his preschool and I gave him and Noel permission to eat some of it. He looks quite guilty in this picture but he is not, I just happened to get this silly look on his face I guess. I just thought it was hilarious the way they literally took bites out of the top.
And then we were off to CA! The weather was beautiful for the first 8 hours or so and then we reached the Sierra's. We hit a few rough patches of snow which was stressful, especially when someone spun out and crossed over our lane right in front of us.
The night we arrived we attended Morgan's Parents Ward Christmas Party and Santa was there!
One evening, we went with Grandma and Grandpa Young and Brian and Tobias to a nearby Christmas Blow Up Decorations Attraction (I'm not sure what else to call it) but it was AMAZING! There were tons and tons of inflatable Christmas decorations.
Brian and Tobias helping Santa out.
The fam.
The Abominable Snowman!
Sam is very fearful of dogs and each time we visit Grandma and Grandpa Young's, he has to readjust to a dog in his space. He finally, after 3 days or so, warmed up to Bandi.
Grandma and Grandpa Young took the kiddos and I to Bouncetown in El Dorado Hills. The kids had a blast!!
We went to the temple with Morgan's parents to do baptisms for some very important relatives who have passed on:) It was a wonderful experience.
On Christmas Eve I was taking a nap when Morgan walked into the room and said, "I don't want to freak you out or anything but I just wanted to tell you that there's a tornado warning for Diamond Springs right now. There was a tornado that touched down in Folsom and the storm cell is heading our way and there are alerts on our phones!" As I laid there for the next 15-20 minutes I watched out the window as there began to be more and more thunder and lightning and then it hailed for forever! This is what is looked like after it was done hailing. It looked like it had snowed!
This was the alert we got on our phones. It happened twice. The first time it said the tornado warning was in affect til 4pm then we got a second one after 4pm saying that it was until 4:30pm. It was crazy!
I got a call from my mom asking if we were ok because the storm was heading our way and a tornado actually had touched down one block away from them causing a few trees to be uprooted and such! Here are some pictures from the news as we were waiting to see if anything was going to touchdown where we were.
Bandi was scared of the thunder and lightning, so Noel and Sam sat with her on the recliner as we were watching the news and waiting. What a crazy Christmas Eve!
Christmas morning in their new pj's. Aren't they adorable!?
I love the magic of Christmas that having kids brings.
We then spent the next week with Grandma and Grandpa Watkins. Sam loved helping Grandma in the kitchen!
We went on a walk on one of the days and saw this tree uprooted from the tornado, just on the other side of my parents block.
The kids went acorn hunting in the backyard.
We visited the Gomm's ranch so the kids could see the chickens and collect their eggs with Grandpa. It was kind of muddy from all the rain so I put bags over their feet. :)
We went out to Mongolian BBQ one evening with my parents. It was yummy as you can see.
The kids reading with Grandpa.
We had to get donuts because they're only the best donuts on the face on the earth!!!
We went to the park so the kids could get wiggles out.
On New Year's Eve we went to the Reynolds and partied til midnight. The kids were so good there and just had fun playing upstairs in the media room and watching Inside Out. Us adults visited and played games up until midnight. It was a BLAST! The kids konked out around 11:30pm. They were so tired!
Grandma Watkins took the kids outside and taught the kids how to make Bubble Snakes. It was so cool! The kids loved it.
And then we left. I wished I would've taken more pics. I feel like I'm getting worse at taking pictures. I completely forgot to take a picture when Morgan, the kids and I met up with Gail and Suzanne, Samuel's Primary Nurses from the NICU, for lunch. We sure enjoyed our time with them and I wish I would've remembered to document it.
It was good to get home and get back into routine, although I really didn't want to leave CA and family. A few days after we got home I watched Emilie's kids for a little over an hour. Ruth fell asleep on me!! I've been jealous seeing her fall asleep on what it seems like everyone else. Finally, she fell asleep on me and we snuggled. She is adorable.
Noel brought this home from school last week. She really wanted a pet Beagle for Christmas because they are "cyoot" and "fllufe". Isn't that adorable? I forsee in the next few years probably making that wish come true for the kiddos.
Sam being silly...again.
Morgan will probably be a little embarrassed that I am putting these pics on the blog because he felt silly and feels like he loses his man card by putting these fuzzy blue tickling gloves on, but he definitely kept his man card and earned manly brownie points on top of that for reading a new book they got called "The Tickle Monster". This book is adorable by the way Mary and Gary. Thank you so much!! We've read it most nights since getting unpacked!
So earlier this week, on Monday, I wasn't feeling so good. I was on the couch most of the day and the kids went from one thing to another being the best of friends, getting along AMAZINGLY. No fights. No bossing around. No nothing! This moment was so cute, I had to take this picture. They had opened the blinds and sat in the sun on the bar stools, eating their snacks that they got all by themselves from the pantry, talking to each other about anything and everything. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed me with these two kiddos. They are such a blessing in my life.
Yesterday, I got a call from Noel's school letting me know she was in the office with a fever of 101.7. I rushed over and picked her up from school. Her tummy was hurting as well and that was the original reason why she went into the office. It eventually was confirmed a few hours later that it was the stomach flu. It went through her fast and I hope that the rest of us won't get it. She's doing well so far today.
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